Carbon Copy
by CaptainPiika
Summary: After evading being captured, Ditto decides the best way to stay wild is to pretend to be a human. All is well until he's spotted by someone named April... who drags him on a camping trip... and likes him. Oh boy. PokeHuman.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is my first shot at PokéHuman. That said, I think I have a pretty good understanding of the genre. This is mostly Gameverse, as well. Well then, here goes.

—

_Gengar scare and Charizard roar,_

_I am Ditto, nothing more._

Everyone who has lived in the past century or so knows that the popular thing for children to go out and do is Pokémon training. This is true for both humans and Pokémon alike; human children dream of entering tournaments and Pokémon children dream of winning against their older siblings in a fight. However, behind the golden idealism lies a very unfortunate problem.

Certain species of Pokémon are more popular with the humans than others. Cute, fluffy mammalian Pokémon tend to be better off than species that resemble living plants or humans themselves. Though there are exceptions to the rule, it seems to hold true for the most part. And this is the problem.

The Eevee children are far luckier than the other children. Every human adores Eevee. Therefore, the new trainers feel more inclined to go looking for Eevee instead of Bellsprout. Or Goldeen. Or Drowzee. Thus, the young Bellsprout, Goldeen and Drowzee grow up to be bitter Victreebel, Seaking, and Hypno. Meanwhile, the Eevee children have a fourteen percent chance of evolving into what they want and most of them become unhappy as well. It's a very depressing cycle.

I should know. As a young Ditto I ambitiously transformed into an Eevee in an attempt to be noticed by a passing trainer. Surely enough, I was caught, so I transformed back. To my displeasure, the trainer quickly released me without a second glance, crushing my Pokéball beneath his shoe and walking away in a foul mood. I haven't been caught since.

That isn't to say I didn't try. In my youth I longed to be part of a team that would one day win the Pokémon League. The adults were quick to shoot me down, however. I still remember what one of them said to me.

"_Oh, I've heard stories about what trainers do. You say they'll catch you and train you, huh? Help you become strong? Well, let me ask you something, buddy. Have you ever seen someone train a Ditto?"_

Those words struck me hard. It was then that I realized my fate, and decided to make the best of it. From that day forward, I minded my own business and trainers minded theirs. And for twenty years, it worked. Until today.

"Dude! I need a Ditto for my Pokédex!"

I had been lying under a tree, pondering whether or not the popularity system would ever work out its own problems when a strange and hygienically challenged teenage human found me. I blinked at him; it had been a long time since I had seen a human's face.

"Arcanine! Weaken it!" the trainer shouted. Before his Pokémon even got a chance to materialize, however, I was already fleeing. I hadn't battled in twenty years and I had a feeling I would be more than a little rusty.

The Arcanine was quicker than me. He caught up to me in a mere second, growling at me and trying to intimidate me into backing into a corner. I sighed angrily.

"_Please just let me through. I would rather not get caught,"_ I asked the Arcanine politely.

The large canine scoffed. _"Right. Look, we're just Pokédexing. Just let Mark catch you and you'll go straight to a box or something. It's no biggie."_

"_I doubt 'Pokédexing' is a real verb,"_ I muttered. There seemed to be only one other option for me. I started to transform, glowing white before morphing into an exact duplicate of the Arcanine in front of me, and with my newfound speed, I bounded off.

The downside to transforming into an exact duplicate of someone is that they can do everything you can. Within seconds, the Arcanine matched my speed, slamming into my side and knocking me over into a bunch of bushes. Thinking quickly, I transformed into a leaf so they wouldn't spot me.

The boy and his Arcanine were quick to come over, but I remained unnoticed as they scanned the shrubbery I lay in. Well, it's likely, at least. I couldn't tell, as I didn't have eyes as a leaf. I wanted to make sure, so I inconspicuously granted myself an ear to hear with.

"Arcanine, you suck! How did you let it get away? Come on, let's go find another one," I heard the boy say. Once they were safely away, I transformed back into my normal self and breathed a sigh of relief.

I guessed the best thing to do was to learn more about this 'Pokédexing', so I opted to visit a wise old Nidorina who lived among the bushes I was currently sitting in. I doubted she knew much more than me, but it was worth a try. If anything, one of her children might have knowledge of it.

I took a refreshing, twenty-minute walk (or in my case, slogged my way through) to Nidorina's burrow. She was outside when I got there, and greeted me amicably.

"_Why hello, Ditto. What brings you here?"_ she asked kindly. I smiled, which was rare for me, but Nidorina seemed to be able to make everyone happy when she was around.

"_I was just wondering, Nidorina. Do you know what 'Pokédexing' is?"_ As soon as I said the word, I saw her eyes narrow.

She growled. _"It's a blasted new fad with the humans, according to my son. They go around catching every Pokémon they can just so they can fill up their fancy dohickeys with 'data'. It already took two of my kids."_

I frowned. _"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that,"_ I said.

She shook her head. _"Don't apologize. You're not the one going around catching everyone."_

"_No… Oh! That isn't a bad idea,"_ I mused, blinking. Nidorina opened her mouth.

"_What? Ditto, you can't be serious!"_ she said, aghast.

I shook my head. _"You've misunderstood me, Nidorina. I was thinking… I could avoid capture by pretending to be a human myself, could I not?"_

She pawed the ground. _"Oh, I don't know, Ditto. You haven't come up with something like this since you were a child… and isn't it a taboo for you to transform into humans?"_

I considered this. True, it was frowned upon to try and imitate a human, but that was due to a rumour more than anything. Many Ditto thought that if you transformed into a human, you wouldn't be able to transform back. But if I could turn into a leaf with an ear, I doubted being a human would cause me problems.

"_I'm not saying it would be permanent. I'd just transform into a human whenever I saw one coming, and then they'd never aim a Pokéball at me,"_ I looked at Nidorina. _"I never understood the taboo anyway."_

"_I still don't like this idea, Ditto. Something could go wrong,"_ she pressed, frowning at me with pursed lips.

I smiled. _"I'm thirty-five years old, Nidorina. I can take care of myself,"_ I assured her. And without giving her time to say anything more, I bid her farewell and made my way to the main road.

I peeked out into Route 15. There were trainers everywhere, like always, all challenging each other like they usually did. The boy with the Arcanine was far down the route, thankfully with his back turned. I took a breath. I hoped nothing bad would come from what I was about to do.

I slid into the shadows of the trees, being careful to conceal myself from any humans. Gazing at the boy who had tried to capture me before, I scanned each and every minute detail of his appearance. After all, I prided myself in my perfectionism.

After several minutes of watching, I decided I had stared at him long enough. I willed my cells to divide, the mitosis working at an incredible pace only my species could handle. Within seconds, I had matched his height, and after another ten I had finished transforming. I now appeared to be a regular, teenage human.

I took a few minutes to work out my new balance. Standing on two feet was a strange experience for me, as most of the Pokémon living in the area were either quadrupeds or plants. My species' adaptability quickly kicked in, however, and in no time I had learned to walk. Excellent.

I checked to see that the trainer still wasn't looking before walking onto the main path. None of the humans paid me any mind as I began to walk down the road, probably because I had no Pokémon to battle them with. I was grateful for that; the last thing I needed was to attract unnecessary attention and have the boy spot me.

Fuchsia City was my destination. I hadn't been into the city before, but I'd heard stories from others who had, and it was apparently a vacation spot for many a human, trainer or not. I thought if I was going to pretend to be a human, I needed to see how best to fit in, and being around humans would help me.

There was a small bit of my mind that was telling me I needn't go to such lengths to maintain what at most would be a several minute masquerade, but at the same time I was tempted to see how well I could keep up my act. I suppose I'm too much of a perfectionist.

While I walked, I noticed the astonishing difference among humans as a species. Unlike most Pokémon, each and every one of them look decidedly different from one another. There were many different nose shapes, eye colours, hairstyles, and countless other factors making up each one of them. It was quite fascinating.

My musing brought me to the city sooner than I expected. I stared, wide eyed, at the setting around me. There were many humans, bustling along hurriedly and chatting animatedly with one another. My first instinct was to run away and hide, but I suppressed it. There was no way they would possibly go after me in this form.

I casually strolled down the stylish, red brick roads. As I looked around at the buildings I couldn't help but wonder how I had lived so long without seeing any of it. Humans were strange creatures, but there was no doubt they were intelligent species. Not if they could make all this.

I stopped as I came across a small, fenced in pond. Peering into the waters, I was met with both the blank stares of some Magikarp and my own reflection. I frowned; the boy's laid-back appearance was not to my liking. Perhaps…?

I glanced around. Most of the people seemed to be preoccupied with something, and the ones who weren't were not paying any attention to me. I turned back to my reflection.

Carefully, I started to alter my appearance ever so slightly. The boy's stature was slouched, so I straightened it. Whatever skin condition was plaguing his face, I removed it. All in all, I just wanted to make the boy – whose face was my own, at the moment – a little more tidied up and professional.

I studied my new face. I had made many tiny changes, but if compared to the original, it was still recognizable, just better taken care of. I smiled. Much better.

As I was about to continue on my trek through the city, I heard a shriek, quickly followed by a tackle from behind. Thrown to the ground, I looked up at my attacker, ready to defend myself.

"Oh, hi, Mark! It's me, April!" A girl with auburn pigtails stood above me, grinning. "Sorry, I didn't mean to knock you over… Whoa. You look, er, _different_."

Ah. This would complicate things.

_Well then. See you next chapter. :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: My brain, against all my intentions, decided that I should write more of Carbon Copy. So I did. Feel lucky, readers! You get another chapter early! XD_

* * *

><p>I stared at the young woman, unsure whether to respond or not. On one hand, she appeared to know the boy I was impersonating, which would allow me to observe her behaviour on a more personal level. On the other hand, she would be more likely to notice something odd… much like she was doing so now.<p>

"Um…" the girl said, holding out her hand. I interpreted the gesture as an offer for help up, which was thankfully correct. "What happened? This is so unlike you."

I doubted I'd be able to walk away from the conversation, so I tried replying carefully. "People go through changes in their lives. It's only natural," I had never tried speaking with human vocal chords before, but I wished I had. The amount of sounds I could make was phenomenal.

"Whoa… Okay, who are you and what have you done with Mark?" she asked.

I froze. Had I underestimated this girl's intelligence…?

All of a sudden, she burst out laughing. "Take it easy, I'm just kidding! You may have changed, but I'm still the same old April," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "So… how's your Pokémon journey going?"

"Journey?" I asked without thinking. Oh, wait, of course. The teenage boy had been a trainer, so naturally he must've been going on a journey. "Well, er…"

"Hey, hold on," said the girl, April, "where are your Pokémon?"

I wasn't planning for this. Suddenly, the prospect of disguising myself as a human looked hopeless. I stared at her, unsure how to act.

"Mark," she said, "are you okay? You… I've never seen you like this, and we've known each other since, like, forever!" Wait a minute… perhaps… this could still work.

"Er, no, actually, I'm, um, not okay," I said. I feigned self-concern, thinking the boy was probably someone who thought higher of himself than others. "You see, I think I'm suffering from amnesia."

"Eh? No way!" April said. "You can't remember anything?"

I nodded exuberantly, deciding my improvisation was suitable enough. "Yes, yes. I don't remember a thing about the past, nor how I got here. As for my Pokémon, I haven't a clue as to where they could be. And, er, I'm afraid I do not recognize you," I finished with a pitiful sigh, crossing my arms.

April stared blankly at me for a moment before bursting out laughing. She clutched her side, nearly doubling over. "Oh! Ha! I get it, Mark! 'April's fooled', right? You totally had me for a sec!"

So my amnesia attempt had failed. Well. At least the girl still believed I was her friend… I wondered how long she'd stay. "So, what brings you here?" I asked her.

"I'm going camping!" she announced with excitement. "See, a few years back I gave up on the league and stuff, 'cause I wasn't very good. But I still liked traveling, so I decided I'd go on a trip across Kanto!" April grinned. "And here I was, thinking I'd be going all alone…"

I noted the implications in her tone. "Um, you're not implying that I—"

"You have no Pokémon, which means that you're not on a journey anymore, either. So, why don't you go camping with me?"

Nothing good would amount from this, I could tell. "Er, well, April, _I'd love to_, but unfortunately I do not have any of the necessary equipment or experience…"

April giggled. "That won't be a problem, Mark. I've got everything you'd possibly need right here," she tapped the large backpack on her shoulders. "And as for experience, you've been running around Kanto for years! Surely you're used to sleeping in tents by now?"

"I really don't think—"

"Come on! It'll be fun!" April clasped her hands together. "Please?"

Despite every part of my brain telling me to refuse, something in her face prevented me from saying no. Quite befuddled, I nodded, ever so slightly. April screamed in glee and pulled me into a hug.

"Yay! Thanks, Mark! This is gonna be totally awesome!"

I blinked. Something told me that this was all going to go very, very wrong.

"So what made you decide you didn't want to be a trainer anymore?" asked April.

We were walking up the steep incline that was the pedestrian path of Cycling Road leisurely. It took me all I could muster to keep moving my legs at the slow pace; I did not usually walk very often and going up a hill was quite challenging on my feeble, temporary muscles and joints. April seemed to be fine, however, the walk not even fazing her as we went by numerous bikers and other hooligans.

Upon hearing her question, I mentally sighed. I really didn't know why I was continuing to keep up my charade instead of just running off and escaping. I shrugged, attempting a casual appearance that was quite foreign to me. "It just didn't seem to work out."

April nodded in understanding. "Same here. It was totally fun when I was younger, but now that I'm grown up, it's kind of lost its charm…" She eyed me curiously. "But, you seemed to be really into it, last I saw you. When was that? When we were sixteen, right?"

I, having no idea, shrugged.

"Yeah, I remember now! We were sixteen, and you told me you were going to go challenge the Pokémon League! How did that work out for you?" April smiled at me. She seemed unshakable in her cheerfulness; it was almost disturbing.

"Well, I… I lost," I said, fabricating a story off of the top of my head. "I, um, trained very hard, but in the end, it wasn't quite enough. Er, _Arcanine_… did a good job," I finished. That had to be the most poorly constructed story I'd ever recounted to someone in my entire life. Obviously, I had a severe lack of improvisation skills.

"Oh, I remember Arcanine! He was such a cutie!" April said, her voice becoming increasingly high pitched as she clasped her hands together. "What about Nidoking? You were trying to teach him Thunderbolt, right?"

"Well—" I stopped. Had she just…?

"What?" asked April, confused.

I turned to her. "You just called Nidoking 'him'… Arcanine, too," I said.

Suddenly, April burst into laughter, stopping her walk to clutch at her sides. She shook her head in disbelief, wiping at a tear in her eye. "Wow, Mark. You only just noticed? I've been calling Pokémon him or her or whatever for, like, a million years. Seriously. Sometimes I wonder how much brain you've actually got in there," she said, knocking my forehead lightly with her fist a couple of times. I was dumbstruck.

"I've never heard of a human who does that before," I remarked after she removed her fist.

She raised an eyebrow. "And that's _so_ revolutionary," she said, a sarcastic tone to her voice. "Really Mark. It's no big deal. You're acting like it's this life-changing thing or something."

I frowned. Obviously humans didn't consider us Pokémon their equals… but for April to refer to two individuals with gender specific pronouns and then shrug it off like it didn't matter? It just didn't seem right. She had to be the least bit respectful when making her decision… right?

She giggled, starting to walk again. "You're so weird, Mark."

"Frankly, I find you much weirder," I muttered.

April frowned, sticking her tongue out at me. Then, widening her eyes, she pointed at me. "Gah!"

"Er… Is something the matter?" I couldn't imagine what was surprising her.

"Your bag! You don't have one!" she declared, her hands clenching into fists. "What the heck are you doing without all your stuff?"

I frowned. I was sure I copied the boy's appearance down to the last detail… had he even been carrying a bag to begin with? At this point, I no longer remembered. "I… I guess I lost it," I said, wondering why she cared.

"Mark," she whined, raising her hands to the sides of her head, "how are we supposed to go camping if you don't have your food or _your clothes_?"

"But, didn't you say you had all we'd need with you—"

"I don't have your clothes! I am not camping with you if you're not going to change your clothes every day, Mark, that's just disgusting! Totally gross! Ugh! What am I going to do?"

Well, what a convenient excuse to get away from this girl. I shrugged, plastering a grin on my face. "Well, I suppose that means you'll have to find someone else to go with you. Goodbye," I said, backing away steadily.

"Oh, no! You're not leaving!" April shouted, glaring. "Not after all the trouble I went through to find someone!" She then grabbed my arm roughly and began yanking me up the road. A few bikers looked on in amusement while I simply stared at the figure pulling me away.

I sighed. Was I not, essentially, being captured right here and now? What a pleasant little case of irony. I wondered if I'd ever find a way to truly stay free.

"Where are we going?" I finally found myself asking as the slope of the hill became flatter.

April turned her head so that I could see part of her face. She was apparently still quite angry, her mouth formed in a pout. "Celadon Department Store," she said before whipping her head around again.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why do you think? To buy you clothes, you meathead," she said, fuming. Even at her angriest, her demeanour was extremely childish.

I should have figured as much. "How old are you, exactly?"

"What, you already forgot? Twenty, just like you," She chuckled. Well, at least that seemed to cheer her up. Seeming to notice this, she immediately furrowed her eyebrows again, stomping the ground even harder. Yes, totally and completely a child.

As we entered the border into a new city, I couldn't help but stare in awe at the tall buildings that stretched into the sky. Having only been to Fuchsia City (and even then, I believe I was only there for ten minutes at the most), the concrete towers were great foreign entities. It was quite strange; though mostly gray, the walkways littering the roads had many trees planted in intervals in them, all with verdant foliage that showcased the lovely way in which sunlight bathed the town. Celadon certainly fit its colour name.

Passing a wide, tan-roofed building, I caught the scent of a mesmerizing fragrance that reminded me instantly of my home. April seemed to smell it, too; I felt her grip relax as we walked by, and even heard her utter a small sigh of relief.

"Oh, I just loved that gym… It made me want to be a grass type trainer, just so I could stay!"

I blinked in understanding, realizing why the odour was so familiar. "Sweet Scent."

"Yeah, that's it…" April said, trailing off.

Thankfully, for the rest of the walk April remained pleased. I theorized mentally that it was all the Sweet Scent's doing. After all, the local Weepinbell regularly used it to attract unsuspecting prey, and their victims were often drawn in the same, blissful mood April was currently sporting. I took the opportunity to pull my wrist away, hoping to have her go on, not noticing, but her senses were sharper than I expected. Laughing, she grabbed my wrist again and held tight.

"Nice try," she quipped. She stayed quiet after that.

Celadon Department Store was quite the spectacle, at least in my opinion. The building was full of stuff, humans, Pokémon, trainer goods, souvenirs, toys, food, clothing, practically anything one could imagine, and then some. I found myself reading price tags to simply discover what things were; I had never heard of approximately eighty percent of the products available and my curiosity was compelling me to change that. It seemed that everyone else gawking at the items on display was a foreigner or a small child, however, and soon enough April hastily pulled me away from an isle filled with cutlery to the clothing section, embarrassed.

April thumbed through a rack of summer clothes, handing me three outfits at once. "Here," she said, eyeing me as if to make sure I wasn't going to run off and look at the silverware once more. "Go try these on in the change room over there. If they fit, buy them."

She shoved me into a section with several cubicles, each most likely incredibly small and uncomfortable for the average human male. I entered one of the tiny, segmented areas hesitantly. I stood there for a few minutes before sighing.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do inside. April had called it a "change room", though what sort of changing took place, I had only the foggiest clue. Logically, this would be the place humans were to put on different clothes. But… what…?

I looked at what I was wearing at the moment, a t-shirt and shorts. I had made the clothing out of my own cells, just as I would any other species accessory, like a Marowak's thick club. Fleetingly, I wondered what humans looked like without clothing.

A random glance to my right rewarded me with an advertisement for beachwear, in which the model posing was only wearing shorts. Well, that answered half of my question, at least.

I heard an impatient rapping on the door. "Hey! You done in there yet?" April. Of course.

Figuring the best way to change clothes quickly was to merely transform my current attire, I studied the clothes for several seconds, applied the differences, and replied, "Yes."

"Then get out here!" she commanded.

I opened the door, nearly hitting her in the nose by accident. She stepped backwards, and was about to yell further when she stopped, with her mouth open, staring.

"What?" I asked her, figuring that she must be one of the most contradictory humans in the world, unless they were all like that.

"Uh…" She shook her head. "Nothing! I just think I made a good choice, 'cause that looks good! Now go change out of it so you can buy it, 'kay?" She then pushed the door shut, forcing me back into the room.

I stared at the wooden door for a moment before shrugging to myself and changing my clothes back to their previous form. As I exited the tiny space and made my way to the other end of the store with April, clothes in hand, I could have sworn I heard her mutter something that sounded like "_Freaking_ fast, man, like a wizard."

At the counter there were several people behind strange machinery. I presumed that this was where humans put their money in exchange for whatever they wanted to take from the store. I placed the clothes onto the counter, and the woman opposite me removed the hangers and shoved them into a plastic bag at lightning speed.

"Your total comes to three-forty-four, twenty-eight," she said. That didn't sound like a total, that sounded like three different numbers all in a row.

The woman stared expectantly at me. April did as well. I turned to her. "What?"

"What? What do you mean, what? Pay her, you idiot!" she yelled.

I looked at her blankly. "But I can't," I said.

"You can't—" April's eyes widened. "WHAT? DON'T YOU HAVE YOUR WALLET?"

She didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she shoved me aside, marching up in front of the woman and pulling out something small and leather, which I assumed was her own wallet. She revealed a thin, plastic object, violently slashed it through a part of the machinery, and jabbed her finger onto several buttons while muttering furiously. When she finished, the woman gave her a slip of paper, which she crushed in her fist before shoving it into the clothing bag. She then pushed the bag into my hands, forcing me to carry it.

"I hate you, Mark," she seethed as we exited the building, hundreds of eyes watching us as we left.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Wondering why there's a Vaporeon in the character tags? This will answer your question. Completely missed the character tags? Well, it's an update nonetheless. Enjoy, readers. :)_

* * *

><p>"Set it up."<p>

April was shoving yet another something into my arms. I raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have to do it?"

"Because you are repaying me for those clothes, penny by penny, with manual labour. Set it up."

We had moved on from the city into a small clearing just outside it. April was watching me like a Pidgeot hunting its kill. If I thought I had any chance of escaping before, it was all gone now. I was very likely going to stay camping with her until I paid her back. Even though I never intended to be in her debt in the first place.

I sighed, fumbling with the plastic and drawing out some sort of mass of manmade material, complete with several metal poles. I blinked at it. This was… what, exactly?

"You _can _set up a tent, can't you? Or did you just sleep outside all the time on your journey?" April's voice sounded like it was attempting to be cruel; however, she was fairly awful at achieving that effect and it instead came out as only mildly annoyed.

I turned my eyes back to the material. I was sure I'd seen a tent before and this… was not it. Tents were large, hollow, triangles. This was just a bunch of strange cloth and metal that couldn't possibly become a place for April to sleep.

So, having no other reasonable choice in my mind, I answered, "No, actually, I've never set up a tent in my life." I was better at statements that were actually true than outright lying, I had discovered.

April rolled her eyes. "You suck, Mark. Are you trying to torture me? Does camping with me bother you that much?" She seemed to be speaking rhetorically, so I refrained from replying as she went to her bag in a huff and started to rummage through it.

Before long, she had taken out a spherical red and white object from her bag, startling me. "I thought you said you weren't a trainer?"

She glanced back at me. "Well, I'm not, really. I released everyone except this guy," she said, dropping the Pokéball to the ground. In a flash of light, out emerged a silky, blue water type, leisurely flicking his tail.

"You remember Bubbles, right?" April asked. "Bubbles, say hi!"

"_Go die in hell,"_ said the Vaporeon, a smile juxtaposed on his face.

"Aww," April cooed, petting him on the head. "See, I kept him around, because he's such a sweetie. I couldn't imagine never seeing him again! Bubbles is my pet now."

I looked on at the scene in disdain. Bubbles was clearly under the impression that I couldn't understand him; that I was the senseless idiot that he remembered, Mark. April, on the other hand, thought he really did greet me amicably, and praised him, unaware of the Pokémon's true feelings. I grimaced.

"What? What's wrong?" April asked me.

"_What isn't wrong?"_ asked the Vaporeon, beaming at me.

"I…" Knowing I couldn't just break into conversation with Bubbles at that moment, I said instead, "Bubbles? That's a horrible name to give to a Pokémon."

Bubbles seemed surprised; good, I wanted to catch his interest. April seemed offended; awful, she was going to yell at me again.

"Hey! I got him when I was twelve! And it's better than not calling your Pokémon anything at all, Mark! Pokémon don't like being called by their species names!" she fumed.

I raised an eyebrow. Where did she get that idea? I had never been called anything but Ditto in my life (aside from being called Mark, today), and I didn't mind in the slightest. I called all my friends by their species name. In fact, I was willing to bet "Bubbles" would rather be called "Vaporeon".

Inherently curious, I couldn't help myself. "Who told you that?"

"I figured it out myself! Because unlike you, my Pokémon were my friends and I respected them and gave them names and treated them nicely! You just battled all day and never let them rest and that's abuse, you know!" I listened to her rambling, amused enough to actually laugh.

"Abuse?" I questioned, feeling a grin emerge. "Really? If Arcanine was really that unhappy," I said, thinking back to the Pokémon who had attempted to fight me earlier that day, "wouldn't he, with his power being so much greater than mine, simply attack me and run away?" Even if Mark hadn't treated his Pokémon in the best way (I vaguely remembered an insult of some sort), Arcanine seemed hardly upset with the task his trainer had instructed him with.

"Uh—" April faltered slightly, but recovered in no time. "Well, maybe he was scared that you would go after him and find him again and keep abusing him!" she declared. Her argument was ludicrous.

I was about to tell her this, until I remembered I was defending the reputation of someone I did not particularly care for by doing so. I ended up shrugging, telling her "Suit yourself," and turned my attention back to the "tent", which I was now determined to set up for a reason I couldn't determine.

Perhaps April was unused to the person she was arguing with giving up, as I felt her stare at me in shock. After a moment she regained her composure, and said to Bubbles, "Uh, hey, go help him with that, okay?" The Vaporeon nodded and walked gracefully over to me, smirking.

"_Oh, I'm going to have fun repaying you for mocking my name,"_ he said to himself.

I glanced at him. "You can't possibly like a name that throws away all of your dignity," I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for Bubbles to hear, but not April, who was sitting on a rock a few feet away, watching.

Bubbles looked at me suspiciously; a sliver of his true personality exposed. _"…Can you understand me?"_

I looked the Vaporeon in the eye. "Yes," I said quietly, "now are you going to help me with this or not?" I gestured to the tent in my hands.

Bubbles reluctantly nodded, his demeanour suddenly becoming very uneasy. _"Uh… take the tarp and lay it flat somewhere,"_ he said. He nudged the beige material with his nose.

I untangled the sheet from the rest of the materials and laid it directly in front of me.

"'_Kay… wait, no, turn it around, the door's gonna be like this,"_ said Bubbles, taking a corner of the tarp with his mouth and dragging it around until it was oriented the way he wanted. April giggled at her Pokémon; she probably thought the scene in front of her was adorable or some such.

It continued on like this for several minutes; Bubbles would instruct me with the next step, and upon my completion, decide I did it wrong and fix it himself as best he could. I supposed even if he had developed a fear of me, he still wanted revenge for insulting his awfully uncreative name. I decided I would pull him aside later and explain who I was, if I got the chance; after all, perhaps he would then help me escape this camping trip.

When the tent was finally constructed properly, the sky had turned from orange to indigo. April got up from her stone chair, clapping. "Well done! You finished!"

I wasn't given a chance to reply before she added, "Now set up yours."

By the time my tent was up and ready to be used, April had already retired to her own, presumably to sleep. I was exhausted myself. It took a lot of energy to keep up a transformation for the entire day, and that in addition to walking for a good part of it made me extremely tired. I had previously planned to sneak away sometime in the early hours of the morning, but now I could tell that definitely wasn't going to happen.

I turned to look at April's tent. "Why do we need our own tents?" I found myself asking. "Judging by the size of that one, I'm certain there'd be enough room inside for me—"

April's head shot out of the tent, glaring. "No! I am a lady! You are not coming in here!" she yelled.

I didn't fully understand her logic, but I was far too tired to argue. " All right, fine," I said, my voice monotone. I entered my tent with a frown.

Once inside, I immediately slumped to the floor, sighing. I couldn't remember the last time I wanted to go to sleep this early in the night…

Someone else entered the tent behind me. I turned, wondering who it was.

"Oh, it's you," I said, addressing Bubbles none too kindly.

"_I'm gonna cut to the chase. How do you understand me?"_ the Vaporeon asked, frowning. He was still weary of me, as if he planned to attack me if I threatened him at all.

I blinked. "Might as well show you," I mused. I needed a break.

"_What? What do you mean?"_ Bubbles asked.

I answered him by transforming back to my original self. Glowing white, my cells quickly molded back into the pink substance I was usually made up of, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief. The stress in my joints was lifted away, and it actually felt like I had melted.

"_You—"_ the Vaporeon started. His eyes were wide. _"A Ditto?"_

I didn't answer him, instead sinking lower to the ground, sleepy. _"That's right."_

Bubbles shoved his head into my face, squinting. _"The hell? You, April's friend Mark, were a Ditto the whole time? That makes no sense, at all."_

I frowned. _"No, I'm not Mark, just a Ditto,"_ I just wanted to go to sleep…

"_Huh,"_ said Bubbles, sitting up straight so that he was looking down on me. _"Um… Care to tell me why you were imitating him, then?"_

I sighed. _"Why does it matter?"_

"_Because it does! What happened, did you see him, say, hell, why don't I be that guy? And then when April asked you to go camping with her, you just said, hell, why not? What kind of nutjob are you?"_ The water type bared his fangs at me.

I blinked. _"That's not what happened. Don't jump to conclusions when you don't know all the facts,"_ I told him.

"_Well,"_ he scoffed, _"if you'd tell me the facts, that wouldn't be a problem, now, would it?"_

"_I don't see why you care, to be honest,"_ I muttered. _"But I'll tell you this, all right? I'm planning on leaving as soon as I can. I never intended to impersonate anyone."_

"_Right… so, what, you just turned into a human who happens to resemble Mark, is that it?" _Bubbles asked in a low growl.

"_Like I said, it doesn't matter, because I'm going to leave," _I replied steadily.

Bubbles's face scrunched up tightly, his frown becoming one of the largest I'd ever seen on a mammal. _"No you're not."_

"_Excuse me?"_

The Vaporeon shook his head. _"You're not leaving."_

I sighed in exasperation and began to make my way towards the tent's exit. I didn't get very far before a stiff, blue paw stepped right on top of me, squishing me further into the ground. I cried out a bit; the Vaporeon was much stronger than me.

"April thinks you're a good friend of hers. Now, I don't know how she's convinced because you're obviously not trying to be a good actor. However, so long as she thinks you're Mark, you leaving will upset her. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

I grumbled painfully. _"You want me to tell her I'm a Ditto, and then leave?"_

"_That would be nice,"_ was the Vaporeon's reply. _"But I've been with April for a long time, and I know her enough to know that would make her even angrier."_

I glanced upwards. _"So?"_

"_So, you're going to stay and be Mark, like you've been doing, because that will make her happy."_

I stared at Bubbles. I then came to the conclusion that any Pokémon that spent enough time around humans became totally insane. I looked at him in disdain, before saying, _"You must be very loyal, to care about her happiness that much."_

Bubbles gave me a crooked smile. _"You'd be the same way if you had a trainer, too."_

Would I? _"Like that would ever happen,"_ I said.

The Vaporeon's smile dropped. _"You're one of those bitter types that hates humans and stuff, aren't you?"_

"No. I'm apathetic to them. Now please, let me be."

This time, I was able to leave the tent with enough speed. I turned to my left, hearing the Vaporeon's steps as he trotted behind me.

"_Hey, hey! What are you doing?"_

"_Well,"_ I said, my tone suddenly irritable, though I hadn't intended it to be, _"I suppose it'd be rude of me to leave without saying so."_

"But I just said— What, do you want her to get mad at you? You're crazy—"

I ignored Bubbles as I entered the other tent with purpose. I wasted no time. _"April, I—"_

"KYAAAAAH!"

Startled, I stared at her.

"Eww… G-go away…" April was trembling; she was gripping her pale pink nightgown tightly. "G-get out! Shoo!"

She backed up, looking at me with a terrified expression. I couldn't imagine why; I hardly looked scary, what with essentially being a pink blob of slime with a face.

"Bubbles!" April shrieked.

Suddenly the Vaporeon was at my side, batting at me with his paw. _"C'mon, you idiot, get out,"_ he was saying, _"before April gets to the ballistic stage."_

I hurried out in annoyance. Bubbles corralled me back to the other tent, obviously intent on keeping me from going anywhere else. Once we were in once again, Bubbles sat directly in front of the tent exit and stared me down.

"Now change back into Mark."

"_Why?"_ I couldn't help but ask.

I heard another shriek from April. "Mark!"

"_That's why. Go on,"_ the Vaporeon encouraged, shaking one of his paws in my face.

Reluctantly, I complied, barely having enough time to complete my transformation before April came running in, tripping over Bubbles and landing on me with a thud.

"Ow! Bubbles!" She rubbed her head. "Uh… sorry," she said, looking extremely embarrassed. She quickly picked herself up, brushing off her nightgown in a hurry. "Um. So, there was this Ditto in my tent, and uh, it looked like Bubbles chased it into your tent, so I just wanted to know if it's gone or…?"

I sighed, picking myself up as well. "The Ditto is gone. There's no need to worry yourself," With the intensity of Bubbles's glare, I don't think I could've said anything to the contrary.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good!" I must have been looking at her strangely, because she then said, "I mean, it was probably harmless, you know? But it caught me off guard, so I kind of screamed…"

April appeared flustered again. "Um… well, goodnight," she said. She smiled sweetly. Then she turned to exit the tent and tripped over Bubbles again, the Vaporeon growling in disdain. More embarrassed than ever, April scurried out, hiding her face.

"_Well great,"_ said Bubbles. He shot me a glare. _"Let's hope there won't be any more Ditto sightings from now on. Right, Mark?"_

And something in my mind told me to agree.

* * *

><p><em>If you had a water Pokémon named Bubbles when you were ten, raise your hand!<em>


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: I didn't give up on this! I just had a hard time writing it, because of the whole camping thing. I'm gonna try my best to make the next chapter take less than a million years, all right? Sorry about that._

* * *

><p>I awoke the next morning with Bubbles's face staring at me. I grumbled.<p>

"Have you been watching me all night?"

"No, I've been making sure April doesn't come in and see you as a Ditto. It'd be easier if you didn't have to change back…"

"You can't expect me to pull limitless amounts of energy from nowhere, Bubbles."

The Vaporeon huffed, sitting straight up. _"Unfortunately."_

I yawned. Then, I began to take on the human shape I was beginning to become accustomed to. I had convinced Bubbles that it was impossible for me to transform for indefinite amounts of time, so he allowed me to take on my original form while I slept. I still felt like a prisoner under his watch, however. Perhaps if I had battle experience, I'd be able to defeat him and get away… though that seemed unlikely.

Once I had finished, I was about to get up to go out of the tent, but the Vaporeon stopped me.

"What is it?" I asked, discontented with the fact that Bubbles had not left me alone since I had revealed my real form to him.

"_Humans wear different clothes every day. You should change them,"_ he replied.

I shrugged. I glanced at the small pile of clothing April had bought the day before and "changed into them" the same way I had at the department store. Once I was finished tweaking the clothing, I turned to Bubbles, who nodded, finally satisfied.

"_Go on, then,"_ Bubbles said, and he and I walked out the tent's door outside into the grassy clearing.

April was already outside, sitting on a rock next to a small fire. Bubbles was right; she too was wearing different clothing than yesterday. I made my way around the fire to see what she was busy doing and discovered that she appeared to be cooking food.

"Oh, hi Mark!" she said, glancing up from the utensils she held in her hands. "I'm making eggs. How do you like yours?"

"Er…" That was an egg on the… whatever it was? It certainly didn't look like one; it was all white with a yellow center, like a daisy with one, enormous petal all the way around. Regardless, I wasn't very comfortable with eating eggs, out of respect for Nidorina, who was a good friend as well as a mother. I frowned. "Are you sure that's an egg?"

April looked at me as if I were the stupidest thing on the planet. "Of course it's an egg! I mean… how could it not be? My cooking's not that bad, is it?"

Bubbles walked up, slinking around April's legs. _"They're not baby Pokémon, if that's what you're concerned about. They're just the eggs Chansey make all the time – for food. Don't worry about it."_

I hardly trusted Bubbles, but judging by the size of the "egg" April was cooking I supposed it was too small to be an unborn Pokémon. "Uh… of course not. I'm kidding."

April rolled her eyes. "So, how do you like your eggs?"

"Um…" I glanced at Bubbles again.

He sighed and said, _"Sunny side up."_

"Sunny side up," I repeated. April nodded and took out another egg from her container of food supplies, cracking it and letting it fall next to the already cooked one. It sizzled upon landing.

Smiling at me, April tapped an adjacent rock. "Why don't you sit down?"

I did so, watching Bubbles weave around his trainer's legs several times until coming to a stop and lying across her feet.

"So," she was trying hard to make conversation, that much I could tell. Well… talking to her wasn't exactly my favourite thing to do, but there didn't seem to be much else to do while one was camping.

"So," I said. "Um… can I ask you something?"

"Hm? Sure," she replied.

I didn't know why I was speaking, but I was. "I've noticed… none of the trainers - or anyone else really - none of them seem to want to catch Ditto… unless they're "Pokédexing", or whatever it's called. Do you, er, know why?"

I suddenly felt extremely embarrassed. Why had I asked that? I already knew why…

"Well, isn't it obvious?" asked April, laughing a bit.

"Hm?" I asked.

She poked at the cooking eggs. "People only catch Ditto for the one thing it's good at – breeding."

I was so taken aback, I nearly fell off the rock I was sitting on. I stared at her. "Wh-what? What are you talking about?" It was all I could manage to stutter out.

She shrugged. "Well, Ditto can breed with practically anything, right? So people catch them to make baby Pokémon. But why are you asking, anyway? Haven't you known that since, like, the first time anyone ever told you about Ditto?" She raised both her eyebrows.

I blinked several times. I had known my species was unpopular with Pokémon trainers, but never in my life had I suspected my species would be subject to something as… as disrespectful as what April had just told me about. I shook my head.

"That can't be right… That just can't be right," I muttered. Bubbles snickered from below.

"What's the big deal?" April asked.

I frowned. She really didn't see anything wrong? But she seemed to be a nicer human than usual… "Well, I just… I don't think the Ditto as a species would appreciate what the humans want with them," I said, a deep disgust invading my voice.

April's eyes softened. "Huh? It's not that cruel, is it? I mean…"

"April, if you were captured and told to mate with several others just because you could, would you think it's okay?" I said, narrowing my eyes at the grass at my feet.

She made a sound in disgust. "Of course not! But Ditto… They're Pokémon, not people… they don't think like us."

I snapped my head back to face her, my mouth opening slightly. "What?"

"Well, their brains are different, right? They wouldn't think the same way a human would," April argued.

I closed my mouth. "Obviously not," I said. I then stood up and began to stalk off in some direction.

I heard April get up and run after me. "Mark! Hey, wait!"

I whirled around. "What?" I asked bitterly.

"Why is this so important to you?" she asked, her voice barely masking a whine.

I didn't answer her.

April huffed and walked right up to me, arms crossed. "Look. I don't know when you became some crazy nut, Mark, but I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't realize the new Mark was a total tree hugger."

I wanted to continue frowning, but curiosity got the better of me. "Tree hugger?"

"Yeah, I totally understand now. You've changed; it's hard not to notice. You must have had some epiphany or something in a dream, right? So I get it if you want people to be nice to Pokémon. Makes sense."

April was completely off her rocker. I told her so. "You're insane."

"Well then, what brought on this new mindset of yours? Mark, I'm just trying to figure out what had to happen to get someone like you to do a complete one-eighty!" Her eyes were attempting to pierce through me, as if she could figure it out by giving me a hard enough look.

"Someone like me," I said, almost unable to control my urge to scoff. She knew nothing… absolutely nothing…

"Yes, someone like you! The stoner who sat in the back of the room, barely managing a passing grade, who took the first chance he got to run out the door with his Pokémon and never look back! Mark…"

She clenched her fists, her nasty glare suddenly diverting to the ground as her expression began to falter. "I thought I was your friend. Can't you just tell me what happened to you?"

She was upset, I could tell. I heard her sniffling slightly, though she seemed to be trying her best to hide it. I frowned. It wasn't really the fairest thing to do, standing there and hearing her talk to someone who wasn't even there. At the same time, however, I was still as angry as I could be and wasn't exactly about to apologize and tell her the truth.

Had it not been for Bubbles's sharp teeth digging into my leg, the scene would have probably lasted longer.

I winced, uttering a cry in pain. Bubbles had a strong bite, and no amount of shaking off was going to do me much good. I glared at him. "Get off!"

The Vaporeon eyed me, his intentions clear enough even for April to understand. He wasn't letting go. Instead, he held fast, his glare growing more intense by the second.

April moved a few steps towards me, looking quite miserable. "Look, Mark. I'm sorry if I… t-tapped a nerve or something. Please don't be mad at me…"

I turned to look at Bubbles once again, and met with a still angry face. I sighed. I supposed there was no other choice…

"Fine," I said, not really agreeing at all. April and Bubbles lead me back to the campfire and I sat down, resting my chin in my hands. I gave a glance to the eggs, which were horribly burnt as a result of being left unattended. A distraught April began to scrape the spoiled food off of the pan.

"Mark?" she asked after a few moments. "I'd… I'd like to talk to you about what just happened."

I didn't bother looking at her. "No."

"Come on, Mark… I said I was sorry. I just want to know where this is coming from. Just… please, tell me."

What was there to tell? Bubbles would have forbid me from saying anything that would alert her to my non-human origins. There was no possible way to make her understand. None at all.

"…This has something to do with why you don't have any Pokémon with you anymore, doesn't it?" April asked, this time with a little more confidence.

I looked at Bubbles. He scowled. _"Just make something up. Mark had all sorts of problems; anything you say would make sense."_

Obviously Bubbles wasn't aware of my lackluster lying skills, but with a glare that heavy I knew I had no other choice but to do as he said. Wearily, I turned my gaze to April.

"Have you ever met a Ditto?"

Bubbles took to biting my leg once more as April blinked in confusion. "Uh… no?"

"Well… neither have I," I said, hoping that would make Bubbles loosen his grip. He did, however reluctantly, but his eyes continued to burn at me. "Though, um, I read this book once…"

April laughed, though her tone was still somewhere between upset and nervous. "You read a book?"

…Was that not what humans did in their spare time? Perhaps my story would have more flaws than I thought. "Um, yes. It was a book about, er, a Vaporeon," I said. "And how he belonged to a trainer, and though his trainer cared about him very much, the language barrier caused her to say a lot of things that he found offensive."

Bubbles's expression was now lazily incredulous. _"You've got to be kidding me…"_

"Are… are you talking about me and Bubbles?" April asked. "You… you think I'm offending him?"

"Anyway," I continued, slowly realizing that my story's point did not relate to my situation at all, "the book said that sometimes, humans take things for granted about Pokémon that they shouldn't. Like Pokémon not thinking the same way. Because I think we're more similar than you think."

Nervously fidgeting her feet, April frowned and said, "So you're saying…"

"Would you ever force Bubbles to mate with someone else just to make a baby Eevee?" I asked.

"No," April answered, looking crestfallen.

"Then why in the world would you ever go and catch a Pokémon just to put them through something like that? Had you raised them, and cared for them like you do with Bubbles, then you would understand that you should never, ever force someone to do anything like that." I felt like I was scolding a small child; April looked incredibly upset. I took that as proof that I had gotten my point through to her.

Feeling one last detail bugging me, I added, "Of course, there is undoubtedly a Ditto somewhere in the world who would be okay with something like that, and I'm just as sure there are humans in the world like that as well. But assuming an entire species would willingly do that is very prejudiced."

April nodded, wiping her eye. "Okay. I get it, Mark. I'm sorry for upsetting you. And Bubbles," she looked at her Vaporeon, "I'm so sorry if I ever hurt your feelings. I love you so much, you know?"

Bubbles's contemplating face instantly brightened as he gave a happy "Vayy!", completely meaningless to both himself and I. For April, however, it was an encouraging sound, something that would most likely keep her happy and bubbly for the rest of the day. And a happy April was better than a sad April, at least in my book.

After finally eating a hearty breakfast (which was really quite tasty; eggs were probably one of the best foods I'd ever eaten in my entire life), April cleaned up and started to dismantle the tents. Assuming we were leaving for elsewhere, I decided to help.

"Where are we going?" I asked while attempting to untie one of Bubbles's knots. It was really quite tight for someone who had only his teeth and no thumbs.

April grinned. "I never thought you'd ask! How do you feel about kayaking?"

"Kayaking" was a completely foreign word to me. "What is that?"

Shaking her head, April sighed. "It's like canoeing."

Well, that was a start. I was aware that a canoe was some kind of boat. I had never been near water deep enough to carry a boat, though, and I hardly knew how to swim. It would be different if I just transformed into Bubbles, but I couldn't exactly do that all of a sudden and expect April not to notice, could I?

I heard Bubbles laughing, and glanced down to my right to see him shaking his head at me.

"_Oh, you're in for a wild ride. April is a terrible captain,"_ He grinned evilly.

I frowned. Something in the Vaporeon's eyes told me he was completely and utterly serious.


End file.
